


Martians

by Missy_Pixels



Series: Section 13 [2]
Category: Star Trek
Genre: Backstory, Cryptids, Gen, Kids, Mars, Martians, Missing Children, Paranormal, Paranormal Investigators, everything turns out alright, section 13 verse, tng era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-15
Updated: 2017-12-15
Packaged: 2019-02-15 00:31:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13019469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Missy_Pixels/pseuds/Missy_Pixels
Summary: They say long before the first human colonizers came, Martians lived in the underground caverns of Mars. Many say they're still there. Of course it's all just urban legends.Backstory, about an event that took place during the childhood of Alondra Diaz, one of the Section 13 investigators. This fic is a standalone, it's not necessary to read other fics in this series to understand this one.





	Martians

Alondra sat beside her older sister Marta, wrapped in heavy jackets and perched on a small incline, as they both looked out across the vast Martian desert. 

"Chantale at school says that before people lived on Mars, there were Martians here already."

"That's stupid," said Marta. Afterall she was the oldest, and if native Martians existed, surely she would have heard about it by now. "No one lived here before humans. My teacher said so. She showed pictures."

"Chantale says they live underground. And sometimes if you look in one of those holes in the ground, you can see one staring back, watching you." Alondra explained staring calmly at the thousands of tiny tunnels that blanketed the bleak Martian surface. "They like to listen to us, so they can learn about us."

"Those holes were made by gophers," said Marta firmly, except that wasn't quite true. Once they'd been introduced, Earth rodents had happily moved into the natural forming network of underground tunnels and caverns. But they hadn't been the ones to create them. It was also well-known that further out, much further than either of them were allowed to go without supervision, there existed much larger tunnels. Some so large a child could easily fall through if they weren't paying proper attention.

Of course that didn't mean that there were alien creatures out there, Marta reminded herself.

"Chantale says they're gathering information so they can destroy us and take back the planet. But I don't think so, I think they're just curious about us," Alondra continued. "Akira said he saw one once, when he went out to where those giant holes are, alone. He said it looked at him and smiled with big sharp teeth."

"That's dumb," said Marta, pretending the idea didn't make her stomach squirm with worry when she thought about it. "And Akira's always making up stories. You shouldn't listen to him."

Beside her, Alondra chewed on her mitt thoughtfully. "Maybe," she allowed. "But it might be true."

Off in the distance, Marta heard her mother call them in for dinner. The two reluctantly got up and headed inside.

"It's not true," Marta insisted quietly to herself as she went. But she couldn't help one more glance back at the barren ice fields behind them, still and lifeless. And when she shivered, it wasn't because she was cold.

\--

"How was school today?" the girls' mother asked them over dinner. 

"We're learning about all the different planets in the Federation," said Marta, proudly. "Did you know there's over a hundred?"

"Can you name the four founding planets?" their father asked.

Marta took a moment to think about it. "Earth," that was the easy one, "and Vulcan..." the other easy one because they were the species that made first contact. "And uh..." Her teacher had mentioned the other two in school, but Marta had forgotten.

"Mom, are there martians living underground?" asked Alondra suddenly, bored already with Marta's quizzing. "Someone at school said there was."

"There's no Martians," said Marta, annoyed at Alondra's interruption.

Their parents looked uneasily at each other.

"Where did you hear about Martians?" asked their father concerned.

"Chantale told me," said Alondra.

Their mother frowned. "Chantale's a little older than you, isn't she? I think she's just trying to scare you."

"Martians are just an urban legend. Made up to scare kids, to keep them away from those larger caverns where they might fall in," added their father. 

"I told you," said Marta smugly. "You're always so quick to believe everything you hear."

Alondra carefully separated all the food out on her plate so nothing touched. "Maybe," she said noncommittally.

\---

Getting onto the transport for school the next morning, Alondra walked huddled behind Marta for warmth until they were halfway down the airbus where the kids her own age sat. She took her seat while Marta continued down towards the back, to sit with the older kids.

A few seconds later, Akira moved into the empty seat beside her without even asking if she minded, and started talking excitedly with the kids in the seat across the way.

Alondra stared out the window as the airbus flew high across the ice deserts and made handprints on the window until the frost began to freeze her hand. She was starting out through one of her pam prints when a quick movement in the ice fields below caught her attention. She looked closer just on time to see something large quickly slithered out of site down into one of the large caverns below the surface.

"I see you," Alondra whispered quietly into the transparent aluminum. 

\---

That evening, Alondra went home and began packing. She dressed in layers: two pairs of pants, three shirts, two pairs of socks. She dumped out her school bag, went into the kitchen and replicated chocolate bars, at least fifteen, and filled her bag up with them instead. She then put on her coat, boots, hat and mittens. And then she called to her parents to let them know she was going to play outside and set off across the ice desert to find the Martians.

Alondra walked for a long time. She'd severely underestimated just how far out the deeper underground caves were, and before she knew it the sun was setting and the temperature began to drop. The layers helped, but the cold winds still stung her cheeks and froze her eyes as she went.

She was about to give up and turn back when she finally reached the larger tunnels. Hundreds of them, spread across the ground like a giant whack-a-mole board.

Alondra plopped down in front them, pulled a chocolate bar out of her bag, and waited.

The sun finally set and the only light Alondra had was the asymmetric red and brown light reflecting down from Phobos and Deimos.

As she sat, quiet and still, the area around her slowly came back to life. Gophers peeked out of the caves, and nocturnal birds flew silently overhead. And then--if Alondra hadn't been watching the caves so closely she might have missed it--a pair of large round yellow eyes appeared, glowing from deep within the nearest cave.

She didn't move, transfixed, and watched as ever so slowly the eyes came closer followed by a large furry silhouette, moving gracefully, almost slithering up out of the hole to get a closer look at Alondra.

It was huge, towering over her and blocking out the light of the moons so that all she could see were the glowing yellow eyes, transfixed on her.

"Are you watching us?" she asked. 

The creature didn't move, but continued to stare. Waiting.

"Because you're curious," she added, explaining her theory.

The Martian grinned at her, showing off a shiny set of very large, very sharp teeth.

 

\----

Alondra's father walked back, worried and tense, with Marta, groggy in his arms. 

"I don't want to go home," Marta whined, muffled, into her father's jacket. "I want to keep looking."

"It's late and you should be in bed," her father said. "Don't worry, we're not going to stop looking. Your mother and the Starfleet officers are still out there with tricorders, they'll find her soon."

He kissed Marta's head, and hoped he was right. The temperature had dropped again, well below -20 Celsius, and the cold wind stung and froze his skin within seconds. He didn't even want to think about Alondra who'd been out there for hours with a much tinier body than his.

He turned a corner and froze. There laying on his front step fast asleep was Alondra. He set down Marta and rushed towards her. _How long had she been there?_ He picked Alondra up and her eyes slowly opened. 

She smiled up at her worried father. "I saw Martians,” she rasped.


End file.
